


Tell Tail

by Sasa_Q



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Cardassians have tails now, M/M, just a bit of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26640811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasa_Q/pseuds/Sasa_Q
Summary: Garak has a problem. Whenever he sees Dr. Bashir, his tail starts to wag uncontrollably. Embarrassed, he knows he can't let Dr. Bashir know.
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 10
Kudos: 94





	Tell Tail

Garak first noticed it when Dr. Bashir came to visit him in his shop one day. The doctor strolled in with a smile on his face.

"Garak!" he said. "How are you? Doing better?"

"Yes, I'm terribly sorry that I had to miss lunch," Garak said. "I'm afraid I was a bit under the weather, as you humans say."

"Well, I'm glad you're doing well now," said Dr. Bashir.

That's when Garak felt it. His tail. It was moving back and forth. Dare he say, it was wagging. And to Garak's horror, he couldn't stop doing it.

Dr. Bashir must have noticed the expression on Garak's face. "Are you... are you all right?"

Don't look at my tail, please don't look at my tail, Garak silently pleaded to Dr. Bashir.

Out loud, he said, "Oh, yes I'm perfectly fine."

"It's just that you look a bit tense," said Dr. Bashir. His brow was wrinkled.

"Well, if you must know, I have an important commission I'm working on," Garak informed him. (Luckily for him, there was an actual commission that he could reference if need be.)

"Oh! In that case, I'll leave you alone," said Dr. Bashir.

"I'll see you tomorrow for lunch," said Garak. His tail was still wagging back and forth.

As the doctor left, Garak hurried into a fitting room and shut the door. He looked at himself in the mirror. His tail was still wagging back and forth like he was some kind of idiot.

"I'm not coming out of this room until my tail is normal," he declared. " You were an Obsidian Order operative, and what are you reduced to now? Some kind of child who can't stop wagging his tail when he's excited? This simply won't do."

It took him approximately two minutes and a lot of effort for his tail to stay still, but eventually it did.

So, ever since then, it was Garak's singular mission to keep Dr. Bashir from realizing that his tail was wagging.

XXXXX

Things didn't get any better when they were having lunch together in the replimat one day, and Garak was telling Dr. Bashir about his day so far.

"Your suit is nearly finished," he promised Dr. Bashir. "I'm just fixing the minor details. It must be absolutely perfect, after all. I can't bear to sell my work to people if I'm not proud of it."

"That's the sign of a good tailor," said Dr. Bashir.

Garak smiled. "I'm glad you think so," he said. "Now, my dear doctor-"

"Julian," Dr. Bashir interrupted him.

"Hm?"

"You can call me Julian," said Dr. Bashir. "It's what my friends call me. I mean, I know we haven't known each other for very long, and you might not really consider me a friend, but I'd really prefer if you called me Julian."

"Oh," said Garak. His tail was starting to wag like mad under the table. "Very well... Julian."

XXXXX

The next time was when Garak came to the infirmary after a scuffle in his tailor shop.

"It turns out you've broken three of your ribs," Julian said. "What happened?"

"Three Klingons," said Garak. He chuckled. "One for each rib, as it were. It appears they mistook me for some other Cardassian who had wronged them."

"Surely there's no chance they had the right Cardassian in the first place," Julian said.

"Not a chance," Garak said. "Because, after all, I'm just-"

"-plain, simple Garak," finished Julian.

"Exactly," said Garak. "I-" He stopped.

"Is something wrong?" Julian asked. "Why are you making that face?"

"What face? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Garak said. His tail was cramping up underneath him as he lay on the infirmary bed. It was trying to wag, but it was trapped underneath him.

"You look uncomfortable," said Julian.

"Well- er, I have a cramp in my- leg," Garak said.

"I'll let you get up in a few moments, don't worry," said Julian. "Let me just run this over your chest. Could you take off your shirt?"

Oh no, Garak thought. Take off my shirt? But he's never seen me unclothed!

"I know you Cardassians like your privacy, but this really does work better if there's no fabric in the way," said Julian. "If you please?"

Garak removed his shirt, his tail still cramping up as it tried to wag back and forth. He felt his body tense up as the cold air hit his skin, and he gently set down his shirt on a nearby table. He felt Julian's eyes on his body, and he felt himself turn darker gray in embarrassment.

"All right, I'll just run this over you and you'll be as good as new," said Julian as he ran some sort of instrument over Garak's rib cage. Garak felt a sort of vibrating sensation in his skin as the ribs healed. "There you are. You should be fine now. All better?"

"Completely," said Garak. "Thank you, doctor- Julian." He went to sit up and realized his tail was still trying to wag. If I get up now, he'll realize! Garak thought.

"Anything wrong?" asked Julian.

"Nothing at all," said Garak. He pulled on his shirt and then paused. "Now I really ought to be going." Then he hopped out of the bed and ran out of the room, his tail wagging madly.

XXXXX

Things got worse after the incident with his implant. He felt even more vulnerable in front of Julian now that he knew more things about him. You would think now that Julian had seen him cry for the first time, Garak would be less attracted to him, but that was not the case.

Case in point, they were sitting in the replimat together having lunch, and Julian was talking about the latest virus he was working on. Garak was listening to him like he was saying the most interesting thing in the world.

"...and it mutated AGAIN, can you believe it? It's like the virus has something against me," Julian said. "Garak, are you even listening to me?"

"Yes, yes, I'm listening to you," Garak said, tail swishing back and forth happily. "Virus mutations. Very bad."

You've been distracted this whole time," Julian said with a smile. "But hey, it's okay. You look kind of cute when you're distracted."

Garak froze. Did he just call me cute? Did JULIAN BASHIR just call me CUTE? His tail was wagging at maximum speed.

"Why, thank you," Garak said.

"And so the virus, this god damn virus, you won't believe what happened next..." Julian went on. Garak was barely listening, occasionally peppering in a "Hm!" or a "Very interesting!". And underneath the table, his tail was going swish, swish, swish.

XXXXX

"I've finally read your story," said Julian on a later day.

"My story? That makes it sound as if I wrote it. No, it's Redar's story," said Garak.

"Fine," Julian said. "I've read Redar's story."

"And how did you like it?" Garak asked.

"It was surprisingly dull," said Julian. "You would think a story about a man murdering his entire family would be exciting, but I was sorely disappointed."

"Yes, but WHY did he murder his family?" Garak asked.

Julian groaned. "...for the state."

"Exactly!" Garak exclaimed. "For the state."

His tail began to swish back and forth happily. He wasn't even listening to Julian talking about how much he hated Silhouette of the Night. He just listened to the sound of Julian's voice, his accent, the pitch of it, every little thing about it. And Garak couldn't stop the realization any longer. He was in love.

XXXXX

So, some time later, Garak found himself in Julian's 'Julian Bashir, Secret Agent' holosuite program. Julian had just ended the world, and it had never looked more beautiful.

"Lunch tomorrow?" Julian asked.

Garak decided to make his move. "Of course," he said. "But why don't we have it at your place, in Hong Kong. Unless, of course, this was your last mission."

Julian smiled in a way Garak supposed he thought made him look enigmatic. "Oh, I think it's safe to say that Julian Bashir, secret agent, will return."

That definitely got Garak's tail wagging.

The two of them started to leave the holosuite, but as they were about to leave, Julian stopped him. "Hey, Garak?"

"Yes?" Garak asked.

"I thought you should know," said Julian, "I think that when you wag your tail, it's really sweet."

Garak froze in place. "Wh-what?"

"You know," said Julian, "when you get really excited and wag your tail. It's cute."

"You knew?" Garak burst out. "You knew this whole time?"

Julian laughed. "Of course I knew, Garak. It was pretty obvious."

"How long have you known?" Garak asked.

"Since that time in your shop, my first year on the station," said Julian.

Garak felt his face get hot with embarrassment. "Oh," he said. "Then it appears you have me at a disadvantage."

"Don't worry about it," Julian said. "Like I said, it's sweet."

"I don't want to be sweet! I want to be..." Garak couldn't think of a word.

"Feared?"

"Exactly! Feared!" Garak said.

"Well, you're just going to have to accept that some of us have gotten used to you, Garak," said Julian. "That some of us like you. A lot."

Garak's first instinct was to absolutely lay into him, but he decided against it. Julian wasn't a Cardassian. "Is that so?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Julian.

Garak did something very un-Cardassian. "Maybe you should come over here and tell me," he said.

The next thing he knew, they were kissing, there in the holosuite, Julian's hands running through his hair, his lips soft against Garak's, his mouth welcoming. It was such a beautiful feeling, and Garak felt a warm, fuzzy happiness in his chest as the two of them stood there, kissing.

Eventually they broke apart, breathless. Garak opened his eyes, and saw, to his complete embarrassment, that he had encircled Julian with his tail.

"I'm sorry," he said. "That was very sudden of me. I apologize."

"Hey, no need to apologize," said Julian. He ran his fingers along Garak's tail. "It looks like it's finally stopped wagging."

"I suppose it's because I've finally gotten what I wanted," said Garak.

Julian smiled. "Garak?"

"Yes?"

"You know that time in the infirmary, when you were trying to hide the fact that your tail was wagging?" Julian asked.

"Yes," said Garak, going dark gray.

"I didn't actually have to take off your shirt," admitted Julian. "The instrument that fixed your ribs works just as well with fabric in the way. I just wanted to see you with your shirt off."

"Julian!" Garak said, scandalized. "I had no idea!"

Julian smiled. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me," he said. "But I'll give you a chance to figure them out."

"Good," said Garak.

"Now, we had better leave the holosuite. I shudder to think of the overage fees Quark is charging me," said Julian.

So they left the holosuite, Garak's tail wrapped around Julian's waist, that nice warm fuzzy feeling in his chest, and for once, he felt complete.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Seaspray13 for betaing this! I really appreciate it. :)  
> Thank you all for reading! I would really appreciate if you would tell me what you think.


End file.
